By Kevin Howett

Monadhliath Developments
Evocatively described by James Fenton in his article in June's Scottish Mountaineer, the Farr wind factory on the hills just west of Tomatin (on the edge of 'the grey hills' beside the A9) has been given the go-ahead and work has started to construct the access roads. These must accommodate huge lorries that will carry the turbines which cannot negotiate steep inclines or tight bends. As a result the tracks have an imprint of about 12m width, including the lateral ditching, and cut like a scythe through the hillside.

The next proposed factory lies to the south and west of here, in the very heart of the Monadhliath – the Dumnaglass proposal. This will straddle 4 square miles of high plateau (at 2,000ft) with thirty six 360ft turbines. It is reported that the estate owner, Sir Jack Hayward (a Bahamas-based property millionaire) will receive £9M over 25 years and the developer, Renewable Energy Systems (RES: part of the Sir Robert McAlpine conglomerate) can expect to make profits of £120M+ (principly derived from the Governments Renewables Obligation Certificates (i.e. public money).

The neighbouring estate of Coignafearn, owned by Sigrid Rausing (of the 'TetaPak' Family, who took ownership of the estate in 1999), has a vision for a sporting estate managed on conservation and sustainable grounds; to restore 100 years of exploitation by man. With eagles resident for the first time in years and nest sites made to encourage breeding, with sea eagles visiting, osprey and kites resident along with wild cat, mountain hare, otter and ptarmigan, the estate fear that their vision will be utterly undermined. The developers admit in their own report that up to 11 eagles could die, breeding success disrupted, red kites threatened and wildcat dens disrupted! Richard Benyon of another neighbouring estate (Glenmazeran) has also come out against the proposal, as he considers the Monadhliath as 'the jewel in the crown of the central highlands'.
local website

MCofS has objected to this proposal on similar grounds. Although the deadline for objections is past we would urge anyone who feels the same way and wishes to try and save this area to write anyway to the following people as recommended by the three estates who are fighting this proposal:
Andrew Brown, Principle Planner, Planning Dept. Highland Council, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness IV3 5NX.
Copy it to Lesley Thomson, Scottish Executive Energy Consents Unit, Meridian Court, 5 Cardogan St. Glasgow G2 6AT
and tell the EU Environment Commissioner, Stavros Dimas (stavros.dimas@cc.eu.int).

Isle of Lewis Residents have their Say
Following over 2,000 objections made (mainly from local people) against the Barvas Moor proposal (potentially the biggest in Europe?) there follows very quickly another proposed wind factory at Eishken in the Paic wilderness (to which MCofS have also objected). The Western Isles residents then made a clear statement in the recent elections by voting in an SNP member to represent them at Westminster. The Labour MP lost his seat and reportedly blamed his defeat on anti-wind farm voters punishing him for his pro-wind views.

Sma' Glen Public Inquiry
The East Perthshire hills triangle between Crieff, Dunkeld and Aberfeldy has been targeted by various developers as suitable because, although highly scenic, carries no conservation designations (although it is a 'Tourist Route'). The first of these to come to public consultation is the Abercairny Wind farm, which intends to place twenty four 100m+ turbines to the south, east and west of this historic glen and local beauty spot. 200 objections were made and it is the first such 'Section 36' proposal to go to public inquiry and so is an important indicator of what to expect in the future. This started on 24th May at the Drummond Arms hotel in Crieff and is expected to last 3-4 weeks so you may still have a chance to attend the inquiry.

The Sma' Glen Protection Group (SGPG) has engaged Mr John Campbell QC as their legal counsel (also representing Perth & Kinross Council) and have been fund raising to pay the fees. If you can help with donations contact the SGPG Treasurer Mr J Richardson (01764 653 036) or the Spokesperson Maureeen Beaumont (01764 652 407). Otherwise, the group urge as many people to attend the enquiry as possible to show the strength of feeling against the proposal, which will devastate this area of highly visible hill on the highland boundary.

Other local proposals that we highlighted in the June 2004 edition of Scottish Mountaineer, Calliachar, Logiealmond and Griffin Forest are yet to come forward. It remains to be seen whether these proposals, highly visible from a large area, will go ahead. Perhaps they are all waiting for the outcome of the Sma' Glen enquiry?

VisitScotland survey
This showed that 25% of visitors would avoid countryside where there are wind farms; 50% said they spoiled the look of the countryside.